The Buddha said: All laws arise because of causes, and all laws are extinguished because of causes.

The frontier city, which has been plagued by war all day long, is called "Xidi", which is a "city of peace" that China and its border neighbors have been fighting for for many years.

What do you mean by that?

But because the name "rhino di" is a transliteration of the foreign language for "peace", the irony is that this ruined city is not peaceful for a day.

From time to time, armoured transports and hordes of troops passed by on the dusty streets, and the houses on both sides of the streets had been blown up to the point of being completely destroyed, and there were one or two homeless people roaming the streets without a home.

The wind carried the dust and howled wantonly in the city, and the whole city was bleak with life, without the prosperity of the city or the tranquility of the countryside, but only the roar of cannonballs and the cold gaze of the people from time to time.

This is a corner of the city that has been devastated by the war, and such bleak scenes abound in the city.

A thin figure appeared on the broken street, but when I saw that the figure was scrawny and unclothed, I looked closely, and it was a boy about ten years old, an orphan of the wandering battlefield.

The war has devastated his family, and now the boy is displaced, wandering around like a walking corpse in search of the meagre food he has to eat.

The heavens always seem to like to add to the storm when people are at their worst, and just as the boy finds some remaining cans from the ruins, a group of heavily armed troops burst out on the street corner.

The boy was so frightened that he hurried to hide under the wreckage of the ruins, but the force seemed to be looking for something, and a group of men and horses scattered and searched the ruins in a language that the boy did not understand.

The boy curled up somewhere, trembling, closed his eyes and prayed that God would keep him safe.

If there were gods, it would be a forgotten corner of the world.

Eventually, the boy was still spotted by the soldiers, who, "babbling" at no idea what to say, grabbed the boy's dirty hair, dragged him down the street, and pointed black muzzles at the boy's head.

Between life and death, the boy wept bitterly, he is a resident of the city, after the invasion of the city by the neighboring country a few years ago, the army of the neighboring country slaughtered the inhabitants of the city, leaving no one alive.

At the beginning, he was also in a coma for two days in his bombed-out home, but he finally escaped the massacre and has been wandering to this day.

But his life seems to be coming to an end today, the boy looks at the blue sky above him in despair, as if he can see his parents, in the face of this group of troops who are careless of human life, all he can do is close his eyes and wait quietly for death.

The gods seemed to have answered his pious prayers, and suddenly there was a noise in the rear of the troops, and all the soldiers looked over to find that a group of more than ten people in light camouflage had been killed at some point.

The dozen or so men were vigorous and skillful, using the ruins as cover, but after a few breaths, they knocked down several of the heavy troops, and the troops of the neighboring country were in great confusion, and everyone had no time to pay attention to the boys on the ground, and they raised their spears and waited for them.

The boy on his knees was stunned when he heard this sudden change, and then he saw two teams of men fighting in the ruined streets, and the scene was extremely bloody, and he hurriedly crawled to the side, poked his head out, and witnessed the battle in the street.

The lightly armed camouflage force was clearly more courageous than their opponents, and in the hail of bullets they had brought down half of the heavily armed troops, and the rest of the men saw that the situation was not good, and hurriedly retreated.

Eventually, after leaving corpses strewn on the streets, the neighboring force was defeated and fled, and the boy was able to save his life.

It turned out that this lightly armed camouflage unit was one of the teams sent by the motherland to support the frontier, and the soldiers led by him helped up the boy who was hiding in the corner, with a hearty smile on his blood-stained face, he took the boy and the troops to converge, and the last group returned to the camp to settle down and rest.

"Captain, we are not a shelter, you have rescued so many people every time, I really don't know if the supplies in our camp can hold on. ”

At dinner, one of the soldiers said to the soldiers who were leading this morning, "Besides, there are so many people in the whole city, we can't take them all in, right?"

The soldier who was the leader still had that trademark hearty smile on his face, and I saw him eating a big bite while saying hesitantly: "The duty of our soldiers is to protect the people, I can't die without help, the supplies are not enough, I just eat less." ”

When the soldier heard this, he sighed softly, he knew that the character of his captain had always been like this, and he felt that there was no need to persuade him any further.

At this time, the boy who had been rescued during the day appeared next to them, and saw the boy's eyes shining at the food on the table, and it seemed that he had not eaten for a long time, and the captain saw this, so he beckoned him to come and eat together, and the boy devoured the not very delicious barracks food, and actually cried while eating.

I saw the boy kneeling in front of the captain, crying: "Benefactor, thank you for saving me today......" He choked up, tears fell, the captain saw this, and hurriedly helped him up, but the boy just knelt on the ground, as if only in this way could he express his gratitude to the soldiers.

"Captain, can you let me follow you in the future, I also hope to rescue more suffering compatriots in the city!"

Although the boy's eyes were hazy with tears, he kept looking at the captain with a firm look, and since that night, there has been a small attendant behind the lightly armed troops: during the day, he is busy in the barracks, helping to take care of his compatriots who have been rescued by the troops, and at night, he repeatedly practices some simple battlefield fighting techniques that he has learned from the captain.

In this way, time is five years, in these five years, the situation in Xidi City has gradually stabilized, and this stability is the blood and life of countless soldiers in exchange, captain their troops, from the initial ten people, now there are only nine people left, many comrades-in-arms sacrificed their lives to protect the family and the country.

The boy of that year, now a teenager, during these five years, he continued to train, and also participated in several safer battlefield missions, he always longed to be able to follow the captain into battle to kill the enemy, and finally, at the age of sixteen, he wore a camouflage uniform, and fought with the captain.

But in the middle of a mission, the troops were ambushed, and there were ten people in the team, and in the end, only the captain and the two boys survived.

Eventually, their troops were also recalled by the headquarters, and the captain was initially reluctant to quit the battle line, but he looked at the corpses of his former comrades, and was extremely sad, and finally under the persuasion of the boy, the two withdrew from the front line, and the captain was also sent to other places to carry out missions.

The boy left him and lived in a small city, living a dull life without gunpowder.

The captain will come to the place where the boy lives every year, and he will catch up, the friendship between the two has long been forged like a brotherly friendship, watching the young man who used to tremble on the street gradually grow up, the captain feels a lot of emotion every time.

In the heart of the young man, he has long believed that the captain is a person who can follow him all his life, and a benefactor who can give his life for him.

As the captain's tasks increased more and more, the time to visit the teenager gradually decreased, and on the evening of the Chinese New Year's Eve of a certain year, the captain braved the heavy snow to come to him, saying that the two of them had a good New Year's dinner.

It's been a long time since the last time I saw the captain, and this goodbye, the captain is still very kind, but the young man faintly feels that the captain exudes an unparalleled sense of oppression, and the captain noticed his doubts, laughed, and said that maybe there have been too many tasks over the years, and the atmosphere of the battlefield on his body can't be covered.

When the young man saw the familiar smile, he felt warm in his heart, and he didn't think much about it for a while, and the two ate this Chinese New Year's Eve meal warmly in the heavy snow.

When parting, the captain suddenly put away his smile, put his face on the young man's shoulder with a solemn face, and asked, "You are the only person I can trust, if one day I want to ask you to do something, can you agree?"

The young man had never seen the captain so serious, and when he heard this, he shook the captain's hand vigorously and said firmly: "Your life was saved by you, no matter what you want me to do, I will definitely go to the soup!"

The captain stared at the young man with that deep gaze and said solemnly, "Thank you!"

Subsequently, the parting between the two was five years, and after the captain asked this sentence, he seemed to have disappeared into the world.

One day, five years later, the boy suddenly received a letter sandwiched between the crack in the door, which was written to him by the captain.

The letter said that the captain could only contact him in this way, asking him if he would like to leave his present life and live in an extremely remote place, and he knew that this request seemed a bit abrupt, and if the boy was willing to do what he said in the letter, he would send back a token of the boy's own as a sign of approval.

Although the young man did not know why the captain had such a request, but in his heart, he always remembered the promise made five years ago, and without saying a word, the young man sent back a portable iron plate that he had in the army in Xidi City, and then according to the address written on the captain's letter, packed up his light clothes, and set off overnight, that year, he was twenty-five years old.

The address on the letter pointed to a remote village in the mountains, where the boy had settled down.

The boy has been living in the barracks since he was ten years old, and he is a good hand at doing farm work, and he also learned the great kindness of the captain, and likes to help others, and in just one or two years, he won the trust of the villagers, and finally became the youngest village chief in the village, and married a village girl as a daughter-in-law.

Time passed quickly, and every day was very fulfilling, and time in the mountains passed slowly, because the boy waited every day for the captain's news.

The ignorant boy at the beginning has now become the head of a village, close to the year of its establishment.

Suddenly, one day, Uncle Wang from the village ran to his house in a panic, saying that there was a bloody man lying there outside the village, with a child in his arms.

When the young man heard this, he immediately ran over, and what he saw in front of him was the captain he was looking forward to: the captain was covered in blood, and he didn't know how to insist on walking here, he was lying on the ground dying, and the young man exclaimed in surprise and rushed over.

The captain looked at the young man with difficulty, tried his best to squeeze out a smile, and said weakly: "Good guy, they have grown so big now......"

The boy hurriedly asked the captain not to speak, and he carefully examined the captain's injuries, and found that his hands and feet were broken, and he was holding a sleeping child in his arms.

He was about to pick up the captain, and after the captain coughed up two mouthfuls of blood, he said hoarsely: "I arranged for you to come here just for today, my life is about to end, you don't have to work in vain, this is my son, his name is Ji Yu, I entrust him to you, I hope you can raise him as an adult..."

The young man was anxious: "Captain, stop talking......"

When the captain heard this, he waved his hand with difficulty: "My time is running out, there is a jade pendant on Yu'er's neck, you keep it, and when Yu'er is sensible, I will return it to him... You, remember not to offer to him like a little ancestor, you must hone him from an early age, so that he can suffer a little more... Boys, they need to be raised... Ahem..."

After that, the captain's cough became more serious, the blood dripping from the corner of his mouth flowed on the young man's hand, the captain's wandering eyes began to look at the blue sky, he gently held the young man's hand, and said in a free voice: "Thank you... Thank you... You ......"

After speaking, the captain was soft, the deep gaze had dimmed, the young man hugged the captain tightly, crying silently, the child in his arms seemed to know that his father had died, he rubbed his eyes, looked at the father who fell to the ground, and cried.

The young man gently hugged the child into his arms, he held back his grief, turned back to Uncle Wang and said, "Uncle Wang, what happened today, please don't mention it to anyone, I'll take care of the aftermath here." ”

The simple Uncle Wang had never seen such a scene, and nodded hurriedly again and again, and the young man carried the captain's body in his right hand and the young Ji Yu in his left hand, bypassed the village, and came to the cliff behind the woods alone.

He put the sleeping Ji Yu under the tree and erected a humble grave for the captain on the edge of the cliff.

Before the captain's body was about to be put into the ground, an old photo fell out of the captain's clothes, the photo showed the captain's family of three, and the woman next to the captain was obviously his wife, and the warm smiles of the three were engraved in the young man's heart.

He picked up the photo, set up a small mound next to it, and buried it in it.

"Captain, although I don't know if my sister-in-law is still alive, if not, I hope you can reunite in heaven, you can rest assured, I will keep Yu'er safe and raise him as an adult, you saved my life that day, I will repay him for the rest ......of my life."

Since then, there have been two inconspicuous mounds on the cliff behind the village, and the young man will come to help weed the mound all the time, and sometimes he will sit there quietly, talking to himself.

----

It is said that people will see many pictures of their lives when they are dying, and when the village chief used his last strength to let Ji Yu flee quickly, the events of these years kept flashing in front of him.

His eyes began to blur, and many past events came to mind one by one, and finally stopped on this familiar picture:

Time returned to the streets of Rhino City, hiding in a corner of the ruins, the captain's hearty smile bathed his frightened heart like a spring breeze.

That was the first thing the captain said to him: "Don't be afraid, my name is Ji Qianyao, what's your name?"

The young man raised his head, there was no more horror back then, there was just a bright smile like the captain's face: "My name is Ye An!"

"Captain, I'm here with you......"